The Kings and Queens of this Tragedy
by EerieMinion
Summary: I had started wondering what would happen if someone other than Mary was the King/Queen of this tragedy, so this is a series of Outer Science short stories in which each member of the Mekakushi Dan gets that role. I'm warning you now that there will be violence and gore, because as the KagePro fandom knows, everyone dies in Outer Science.
1. Queen of this Tragedy: Kido

Queen of this Tragedy: Kido -

This couldn't be happening. I can't believe this. It didn't make sense. How could something as simple as a visiting a friend's old house end in so much blood on the ground? None of us, not even that little shit Kano, did anything to deserve this.

- Years ago Seto had found a girl living in the forest, all on her own in a little house. The two of them had become close quickly, so we ended up taking that girl, Mary Kozakura, to come live with us and join our gang. But she still had memories in that place, which I assumed was probably related to her family, though she never talked about it much (or at least not to me...). She had mentioned visiting the place, so we all agreed to go there. It was just going to be a little trip. Going there and looking around the place, then going back home.

The other guys had started fooling around shortly after we got there. I guess it's inevitable, considering they're all still children, regardless of how old Shintarou claims to be. It was harmless really. The neet had found a bee in the bushes and started freaking out, while Kano stood there laughing. It was kind of funny, really. He ran away, and Konoha followed, and we all shrugged it off as nothing.

But after a little while, Shintarou didn't come back.

Konoha almost made it back to the group, but the man who stepped into the clearing was not No. 9, however much resemblance they had.

Snowy hair was stained black, that clueless expression twisted into a cruel grin, and soft pink eyes now dyed vivid yellow. The way he walked was no longer carefree, but had a dark sense of purpose in each step. The person we had once known as a friend had been replaced with a new enemy.

And I didn't want him to lay a finger on my children.

"Who are you?" I demanded, stepping away from the wall I had been leaning on. A few of the others didn't seem to have noticed him until I spoke. The stranger only smiled and continued to approach.

I shot Seto a look, and he nodded. "Let's go inside, Mary, alright?" He grabbed her and the resisting shota before heading inside with the two of them. Momo stared at the man for a moment before following.

"I said, who are you?"

"Danchou!" Normally I would skin Kano alive for tackling me out of nowhere, but just before I hit the ground I caught sight of what the stranger held: a knife. Me and him scooted backward and stood to avoid getting hit by the blade as it was swung down, barely missing.

I took a quick breath, activating my eye ability to hide me and Kano. If this man couldn't see us, that would make everything better. We made a dash to either side of him, and began running toward him, arms raised and ready to strike. Just as I came close, he turned in my direction. Then there was pain in my right hand as the knife stabbed through it. It caught me by surprise, and I gave a disgusting scream. Blood dripped down and fell onto the dirt below us. "K-Kido!' Kano ran past the freak to see if I was alright, but had his back turned on the enemy as the man reached into his pocket and brought out his other weapon.

There was the sound of a gun shot, and the next thing I know No. 3 lay on the ground beside me, his blood trickling down his scalp. My breath became unusually shallow as I instinctively wrapped my arms around him, tears I hadn't cried in forever landing on his face. I guess its true that you don't realize how much something means to you until its gone. Kano didn't say anything, just stared at me with frightened eyes, his ability no longer masking his true expression. He tried to say something, but before any words escape he went completely still.

Grief was a feeling all too familiar, and I hated it. I had thought long ago that I wouldn't have to face it again, but it didn't turn out that way. Trying not the tremble, I looked up. This man could see me when I was invisible, he really might Konoha. A darker Konoha... Kuroha? He stood there laughing for a moment, drinking in his crime. "I'll come back for you later, I'd rather not be interrupted." He began walking toward the house, where everyone else was hiding.

He killed Kano, and I knew what he was going to do with the others when he got there. I looked down at the boy in my arms, then back at Kuroha. I didn't want to leave this kid behind, but I couldn't just let that man go do as he wanted. "I'm sorry," I whisper, kissing Kano on the forehead before laying him on the ground and standing up. I ran after the monster just as he closed the front door. I winced as I grabbed the doorknob with my injured hand. There were two more gunshots as I entered, and multiple people cried out. Momo and Hibiya were left to each other, a horrible wound in Momo's chest Hibiya's foot was shot. Mary was hiding behind a protective but equally horrified Seto. The idol was silent, tears dripping down her face as she whispered something to Hibiya, her shaking slowly turning to absolute stillness. The shota next to her couldn't do anything to save her, and wasn't even able to run for help anymore.

"Stop it, just stop it!" Mary was wailing, as Kuroha stepped toward her and No. 2. I leapt at him from behind, but he just rammed his elbow behind himself, hitting it straight into my side and knocking me over, before continuing to calmly approach the two people.

"Mary, go hide."

"Eh?"

"Go hide!"

"But Seto!"

"I sai-" Even though I was trying to attack Kuroha from behind, I failed to get the gun out of his hand. As Seto opened his mouth to speak, the tip of the weapon was shoved into his mouth and the trigger was pulled. Mary shrieked as he fell to the ground, staring with wide, scared eyes at the stranger. The gun came up again for another kill, but didn't go off. The man dropped it, it no longer as useful now that it was out of ammo. His gaze went down to his other weapon, the bloodstained knife, and then back up at the little girl in front of him.

I lunged at him for what felt like the hundredth time, and he sighed. "The queen is quite impatient, isn't she?" He turned around, the glint of the blade catching my eye as I fell backwards. It's tip landed right beside my face, the sharp part just barely grazing my left cheek. I was stunned for a moment as he loomed over me, but after the knife started being moved again I began struggling, trying to push him away from me. He brought it against my face and it was dragged horizontally down my forehead, nose, and already bleeding cheek. "If you loose some blood, it'll be that much easier to deal with you, wouldn't it?" He sneered, pulling the blade up and slashing at my body with no real aim besides wishing to draw blood. I was making disgusting gasps of pain, unable to silence myself, as tried desperately and futilely the get it out of the murderer's hands. Damn it, I was starting to feel dizzy, and my bare hands wouldn't win this fight. I squeezed my eyes shut. There was the sound of something hitting the man in the head, and he paused his assault on me. When I looked, I saw Hibiya sitting next to Momo with an angry look on his face. It would be difficult to stand up with his foot that messed up, but he had grabbed one of the books lying around and threw it at him. Kuroha stood up, and began walking toward the boy, who suddenly made a nervous expression as he realized what was about to happen.

"Don't touch hi-" My reply was cut off as the knife was stabbed and dragged through flesh, slitting the boy's throat. Mary couldn't watch any more of this, and was curled up into a sobbing ball, and I can't say I didn't turn my eyes away from it either. Slowly, and shaking terribly, I began crawling toward the girl, the only friend I had left alive. Kuroha turned away from his freshest kill, licking the blood off the blade as he moved closer to us, eyes murderous and grin insane.

I pulled the frightened girl closer to myself, uncontrollably crying nearly as much as her. My own blood was staining her dress and dirtying her pure white hair, but I didn't care. I had my body placed between her and Kuroha, praying that he'd spare at least one of them.

I didn't want to be alone.

I could hear him doing something behind me, but refused to look. I didn't want to watch this anymore, but I turned and peeked anyway as Mary made an allarmed squeak. I saw the wooden table swing down at my head before it all turned black.

When I woke up my body hurt all over. I could feel a nasty bruise on my head and cuts all over, some parts of my clothes shredded over the wounds. My eyes slowly opened, and everything was all blurry, and kind of dark. It looked like night had fallen, and the only light there came from the moon outside the window. How long had I been there? I twitched, curling up on myself, when my knee brushed against something. I opened my eyes wider, and discovered a very still and lifeless Mary lying on the ground beside me. The floor was damp with the red liquid, and I quickly realized it wasn't just one person's worth of blood. I could faintly make out the outlines of a few of the others, and a cold tear ran down my face. He got everyone.

"You're awake, your highness?"

Why was he calling me that? I guess I called a leader before, but what leader would let everyone die like this? I'm a failure. In a last, exhausted effort, I activated my eyes in hope of becoming invisible. I felt something sharp against my arm. My eyes opened half-way to look at him. I didn't want any more of this, I was tired.

"I can't have you go escaping on me. But if I cut you up enough, no matter you go or how hard you hide, I'll have an easy path to follow." Fresh blood dripped down onto the floor, and I closed my eyes.

I want to disappear.

I want to disappear.

I want to disappear.


	2. King of this Tragedy: Seto

King of this Tragedy: Seto

The weather was nice that day, even with the sun pouring down on us there was just enough of a breeze for it to be comfortable. The group was pretty cheerful heading into the forest, and it was rather pleasant. Mary was on my back, letting me give her ride most of the way, Kido and Kano, Momo and Hibiya were arguing a little bit in their conversations, and Shintarou was attempting to ignore Ene. Perfectly normal, but it made me feel happy nonetheless. If such casual days could go on forever, it would make for a wonderful world.

But even in that blissful time, I was well aware that such things don't last forever, even if I was for the moment ignorant to when exactly it would all end.

"Seto..?" The small girl on my back piped up, resting her chin on my shoulder.

"Ah, did I space out?"

The girl nodded.

"Sorry... But hey, aren't we pretty close now?"

It was true. We were visiting Mary's old house, and the building was too much further. We arrived just a few minutes later. Quite a few of the people with us had never been here before, so there was a little tour. Well, the house was kind of tiny, so that didn't last long. Then everyone was just relaxing, hanging out. The sort of thing normal teenagers would do, I think?

"Ah!" Mary gasped out of nowhere, jumping back from the window and bumping into Shintarou. Before anyone could ask, Shintarou was looking alarmed as well. There was a bee buzzing around the two, which at first glance wouldn't look like much of a problem, but I guess with how little the two go out they might not have much practice around them.

"If you stay still, it'll-" I offered, but Shintarou was already heading out the door, trying to escape the tiny creature. I sighed, rubbing my head. Konoha was outside, wasn't he? That kid would probably help him out. And so I decided to leave the matter as it was.

Before we had realized it, the two of them didn't come back for a while. Maybe we should have been more worried than we were, but it's too late for that now.

But one of them did come back.

And it looked like Shintarou had either given him a wicked make over or something had gone terribly wrong. I truly wish it were the first explanation.

The pure white hair had been stained black as death, pink orbs polluted into a vivid yellow, clueless expression deformed into an unsettling grin. Even his clothes seemed to have been swapped with a garment more fitting for an executioner, trances of dried blood on the fabric.

I couldn't help but stare for a moment. Despite all the changes, you could get the feeling this was Konoha but at the same time not... He stepped forward, and I gently pulled on Mary's shoulder so that the girl would be placed behind me.

"Who..." Kisaragi started, breaking the thick silence, "Who are you?"

The grin on the man's face only grew as he stepped forward, everyone flinching at the sudden move. As he came closer we couldn't help but step back.

"Mary..." I whispered. Danchou and Kano had stepped forward, glaring at the man, who merely chuckled a little under his breath.

"Seto?" The girl seemed a little nervous about all this.

"Can you go hide for me?" I tried to sound cheerful, I didn't want to scare her. "Just for a little while, then I'll go find you, okay?" I glanced back with a smile, even though I'm probably not as convincing as Kano when forcing such a face.

She didn't seem so sure about this, but slowly nodded. Keeping to the back of our small group, she scampered off. I gave a small sigh of relief, thinking she should be safe now, but we still had somebody to deal with.

When I turned back around, satisfied that Mary was gone, the first gunshot went off.

Kido fell to the group with a strangled gasp, and the second bullet was fired, sending Kano down with her. Momo screamed. That bad, awful feeling I got when he came in wasn't just paranoia after all.

It all went so fast it felt like a dream, but I just couldn't wake up. I couldn't just call out for someone to shake me awake. Why did it has to be so unfortunate that I wasn't asleep right now? One by one my friends fell, and before I knew it I was running, and the sun was going down. I didn't want to stay in the nightmare, it was too much, and they'd have to get out of the forest to get help. I ran, probably faster than I've ever before. My friends needed help, and I wasn't exactly sure where I'm supposed to get it. Maybe if I can get to a phone, I could call the police...

Suddenly I stopped, a cold feeling coming over me as I recalled something. Mary was still back there. If the others were gone, then there was nobody to protect her. I turned around, forgetting my mission and praying the girl was okay.

It was several minutes before I got there, and every second was spent in misserable worry. It was quiet when I arrived, silence filling the dark air.

Bodies littering the ground outside. I didn't see Mary among them, but the rest of my friends had still been so cruelly killed. Why, just why did this have to happen?

Slowly, trembling slightly, I pushed the door open. I could barely see, and didn't have any source of light on me, but for now I couldn't see or hear Kuroha anywhere. Mary wasn't making any noise either, so I strained my eyes in the dim room, only to have them tear up again imdiately as I approached the dark form in the middle of the room.

Dearest little Mary had been hung from the ceiling by her own hair, and her dress was so very damp from the stab wound in her chest. The lonely, sad feeling was overwhelming, and I didn't know what to do. This whole situation hurt so badly. Barely able to think, my hand drew up to her face, gently caressing her face as tears dripped down my own. Only a little warmth remained on her soft cheeks. I set to work to free her body from where it hung, even though I had tried to be careful some of her hair tore as I brought her down. Once the last bit of hair was undone, I held her limp body close to my own, clutching it as I fell to the floor. I don't know how much time passed where I did nothing but cling to her and cried. There was a small creak behind me, bringing me back into awareness. Footsteps, taking their own sweet time, moving closer and closer. I shuddering with each small thud, not bothering to turn around. My hand brushed the hair out of Mary's face, so I could place a small kiss on her forehead.

"I'm sorry Mary... I'm so, so sorry... But we'll be together again soon, okay?"

As if Kuroha would be so kind as to execute his king and spare him of the detailed suffering he had been planning on inflincting on him.


End file.
